Fibromyalgia and Sexual Problems – Source: Reumatismo, Sep 28, 2012

[Note: This open-access paper meant to educate physicians is part of a special fibromyalgia issue of Reumatismo, the official journal of the Italian Society for Rheumatology. To read the full text of this article & the other papers, all in English, CLICK HERE.]

The aim of this review was to describe the recent literature concerning sexual dysfunction in fibromyalgic patients. To this end, we used the common online databases PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE (up to June 2012) and searched for the key words fibromyalgia (FM) and sexual dysfunction.

All the studies examined underlined that FM is strictly associated with sexual dysfunction in women.

The major findings observed were related to:

• A decreased sexual desire and arousal,

• Decreased experience of orgasm,

• And in some studies an increase in genital pain.

The psychological aspects, together with the stress related to the constant presence of chronic widespread pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances, are certainly a major factor that adversely affects the sexuality of the patient with FM.

Moreover, the drugs most commonly used in these cases may interfere negatively on the sexuality and sexual function of these patients.

Therefore, the therapeutic intervention should be targeted and the side effects should be weighed up against the positive effects.

It is of the utmost importance to recognize the problem of sexuality and sexual dysfunction in a more complex form of its expression and undertake a multidisciplinary therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of FM patients' life.

Many of the medications used to treated FM can cause sexual dysfunction. Although doctors KNOW this, they very rarely approach the subject unless the patient asks about it. Even then, most doctors don't know how to help.

My doctor put me on Prozac in 1998, a few months after the birth of my only child. Within just a few weeks, no matter how my libido felt, I uas totally unable to reach orgasm. Even though I was only on it for about two months, the problem continued for almost a year.

I told my therapist what was going on, and she recommended that I replace my "normal' Vitamin C with "Ester-C" (1000 mg twice daily). Within a month of this change, my libido began to return AND within two months, I had my first orgasm in more than a YEAR!

Although most Anti-pressants can descrease your libido, SSRI's are notorious for cause toal sexual dysfunction like I experienced - but most doctors will not even warn you, much less try to fix this side effect.

I wrote a short article and sent it to my group of "internet fibro family", and within a few months it had been spread across most FM/CFIDS chat groups. I received emails from all over the world thanking me for shar8ng my experiece.

This is one forum wherer I didn't "post" it, since I wasn't active in the chat group, and there wasn't a place for me to "publsh' it.

When I read this article, I KNEW it was the perfect time to post this information, since it was on topic, and a perfect reply to the article.

Of coure, we ALL know that nothing works for everyone, but this has worked for many of my friends.

A key hormone underlying desire and performance sexually is testosterone -- in men and women. Testosterone supplementation can also help with pain as it builds muscle and bone. Testosterone can often be low in fibromyalgia and CFS. To find out if yours is, you could have your total and free levels of testosterone tested, and if indicated, supplement with bio-identical testosterone. My MD for this, who pioneered a pellet insertion method of bio-identical HRT, believes that "normal" ranges include many people who are low, so you may need to be in the higher portion of normal to be truly normal. There is also a threshold below which you can lose sexual desire and performance, along with the ability to orgasm.

Many people with fibro and some with CFS have (or had for many years) high levels of cortisol, often due to stress. With high cortisol, low testosterone can be seen.

My own experience with testosterone was nothing short of miraculous. After many years of high stress and widespread muscle pain, then falling into CFS, my testosterone was basically zero. Supplementing with bio-identical testosterone pellets melted my pain away in 24 hours, reduced my CFS symptoms, and basically gave me my quality of life back. I've been doing it for 11 years, and it's all good!

Nitric oxide (NO) also helps control pain and with sexual performance. This is how Viagra works! Arginine can help produce NO, as can some drugs, and Magnetico magnetic pads, proven in medical studies to help with fibro. Anodyne Therapy Systems machines also help with fibro, producing NO, and also with some aspects of diabetes.

The magnetic pads and Anodyne machines I mention in my post above also help detoxify the body. Dr. Lin's website on sexuality goes into huge amounts of very interesting detail on the connection between liver toxicity and sexual performance. If you get your toxicity down, your sexuality goes up.

Antidepressants and synthetic hormones (including the birth control pill) can also reduce desire, and make satisfaction harder to achieve. Dr. Lin also talks about this. So, maybe try alternative approaches to these things.